BEST 1A VICTORY SO FAR THIS YEAR
- Thread starter THEGOATFROMJMU
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Altavista beat Cenral-Lunenburg(2A) and dominated top 5 team George Wythe who dominated 3A Carroll Co. Buffalo Gap beat 3A East Rockingham. Grayson Co beat Floyd Co(2A) and of course Essex is Essex. Unless Buffalo Gap is better than some think, Essex vs Altavista is the championship game. (semi-finals or not)
I think GW will have a good shot at beating the team in the East. They will have to get past Rye Cove and Grayson and Patrick Henry first. If it's GW in game 15, they will be in the game with a decent shot, especially if it's Essex.
Todd is my guy but Essex’s schedule is the worse of any contender in the state. They’re playing Charles City tonight for homecoming. I like Altavista to come out of the East simply because they’re going to be extremely battle tested.
Let’s not forget, Essex played that same Schedule last year with mainly a bunch of Sophomores and Juniors, without their star RB in the 1/4, semi and championship game and ended up state runner-up in a crazy 7-6 final. I would say 95% of that team is back this year with the additions of some talented freshman and sophomores.
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I think this is Altavista's year, but Essex has a very good chance. That being said, Riverheads(pun intended) heads back to 1A next year, Essex returning players and what will Altavista bring back? 1A could be very exciting next year, let's hope.
Trust me, they’ve tried every cycle. In recent years, Essex has had 5A Deep Run that they went 1-1 with, 4A King George split 1-1 and 3A Thomas Jefferson that they went 2-0 against. Now, teams that are looking to be playoff teams are trying to get those power points for the playoff seeding. So playing Essex is not a good move for them.
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Is it about the points? Playing a lower class team (that wins games) is good for points, no? I understand not wanting to leave points on the table, but I imagine it’s tough for Essex to get takers from the higher classes because those teams don’t want to put their program at risk of losing to a Class 1 school. It’s not like people assume Essex is just some easy W.
I just hate to see them having to play Charles City, Jamestown, and K&Q (grant it they had a good team a few years back and it’s a rivalry game). Would like to see them play the Lunenburgs, Buckinghams, Appomattoxs, Altavistas and Gretnas of the world. I’ve seen both Essex and Altavista play this year and Essex is hands down the better team. I just feel like Altavista will be more battletested.
A win is a win but the score of the altavista appo game was way closer than I thought it would be
The Dogwood District is traditionally one of the best districts in the state. Gretna, William Campbell, Altavista and Appomattox are normally are very tough group. Dan River should be a lot better than they are most years.
Dogwood is really bad this year Besides Gretna and Altavista. Altavista Passing game is very limited They have to put stone at QB to make plays . Appomattox looked really bad last night . Defense was pretty solid but Appo Needs alot of Work on offense .
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Yeah it’s extremely sad how bad the Piedmont and Dogwood districts are. Pittsylvania County has a youth league in place but if you put Chatham, Tunstall and DR, together, they wouldn’t be able to beat Gretna.
Talent ebbs and flows in small areas some times. The Dogwood’s hey day was when it was putting out multiple state championship contending teams across multiple divisions. I’d argue that probably ended in the early 2010’s, but they generally have one state final four team every year in some division or another. Some ridiculous run stretching back to early 00’s. The youth league issue is where I could see Appomattox taking advantage if things don’t get righted there. Altavista and WC don’t have youth teams this year with their programs not joining the Seminole, and Pittsylvania playing themselves only in the county league is something I wish they’d expand on for years just for some more competition and to give Pittsylvania kids a taste of some of the other areas and schools they’d play. I think Nelson has done a great job growing the sport and is involved in a youth program in Shenandoah area if I’m not mistaken. The dogwood will be back, I just think this is one of those odd lulls for the area. A good friend of mine spent years coaching in the James river and dogwood and still swears it’s night and day different. I only use these two to compare since they play each other a lot. Night and day from the depth of teams to the commitment of resources and facilities, etc. I don’t know if the Dogwood will ever see the depth of competition going on in its neighboring Seminole district, but I think you’ll see a really competitive league with some good programs
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